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Invisible Fun?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really want to like this game, and I do; but it does it on the back of its predecessor, to which it does not live up. The reviews I have read on this page are mostly on the money. First the good things:

As a sequel, it's nice how the previous Deus Ex storyline, and characters therein are tied into this game ('the collapse', JC, Tracer Tong, and others). For anyone who played the first installment, this provides insight as to what happened after you finished the first game (depending on how you actually finished it). Because of this, much of the mood of the first game can be felt in DE:IW.

As a stand alone, the game is unimpressive but casually entertaining; it's an FPS, which tries to add RPG elements. The black market biomods are cool and Alex D.'s character is fairly interesting. I guess graphics are okay, but I'm not an authority on those things.

Ironically, the tie-in storyline to the first DE and DE:IW that makes this newest sequel enjoyable, also overshadows the game also makes it a poor cousin to its predecessor. So now the bad:

The RPG improvement system is not present in this game. You start and finish the game with the same skillset, with the exception of biomods you choose. This is by far the most rewarding part of DE1, and therefore the most disappointing part of DE:IW. Moreover, your choices in the game do not affect the outcome except near the end, and sometimes the poor AI can screw that up for you (I was going to go with the illuminati near the end one time, but their sentry attacked me, and soon my prospective allies were choking in poison gas and died in front of me). Whereas killing versus stunning people in the first DE could affect character interaction and therefore how goals were to be completed, DE:IW has no such repercussions. BTW, concussion grenade concuss people to death. Although Alex D is somewhat well rounded, most of the other characters are one dimensional, including the JC and Paul Denton, which is sort of sad.

Inventory: I never have enough slots, and I'm always dropping items in lieu of another. Dropped enemy weapons do not yield ammo, as I found out at the start, when I suddenly had 5 pistols at my disposal, and hardly any ammunition.

Overall, weak storyline. Although it hearkens back to the first game, providing continuity, the story here has very little intrigue to offer, and no bombshells like the first game. As the end of the game approached, there was very little in the way of bringing everything full circle, and no real moral dilemma as to what choice to make.

I'm a crappy gamer, but I finished the game in just over 12 hours. Simply put: it's too easy. Whereas stealth could be the best option in the first game because of too many enemies to face, I would walk into a battle against 4 or 5 guys and mop the floor with them lickety-split. Although I began the game using stealth, I soon realized that walking in guns-a-blazing was just as effective at minimal risk, with higher inventory payouts.

Now, I didn't know this when I bought it, but when I started playing the game I thought to myself, "This feels like a console interface." I.e., oversimplified with small level design, and repeated levels. Looking to see if anybody else had this sense, I found out it was designed for the console. I think this is the root of the problem with this game. I bought it cheap, and this game is a reminder of why I wait a year and a half before I buy a release (plus the fact that patches for glitches are usually available by then).

It's a no-brainer game and better than some I have played. I recommend borrowing it, or waiting another year yet until it's even cheaper, however. If you played the first DE, then this is a must for curiousity's sake. If not, I highly recommend you pick it up instead.

Disappointing and buggy (version 1.0)

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: December 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you've played the first Deus Ex, chances are you will be a little disappointed with is predecessor. There are a some improvements, however. DX2 adds real-time shadows, which makes some of the environments a little more immersive than the first game. There are also some sub quests that characters within the game will give you. I got a solid 12 hours of play out of the game.

Now the bad stuff. The AI is deplorable; the characters and enemies simply don't have realistic responses. Once you have a few of your biomods maxed, there is no competition. I double-crossed characters throughout the game with no consequences. The physics engine is a distraction if anything. There is no apparent difference in weight of the various objects. The story is boring and undeveloped, as are the characters. When it came time to complete the game, I really didn't care what the outcome was. The dubbing is typically cheesy.

The engine doesn't seem so great. Levels take FOREVER to load and are pretty small. This kills the effect of being in a world because you have to wait 20-30 seconds for a different part of the map to load every few minutes. There are a bunch of rendering problems which create visual artifacts (Radeon 9700 Pro). When I killed the final character and the cut scene began to play, the game crashed and corrupted my files. It also locked up several times after a few hours of play

Wow Factor: High

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 56 / 117
Date: June 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game looks excellent, for the info go [online].P>First, this is the sequel to one of the best games ever. The original has won countless awards and has received very high reviews. Definitely a game everyone should own weather you like FPS or not.

Deus Ex: Invisible War is going to expand on all of the concepts of the first including, better AI, much better graphics, and much better physics to just name the main points.

"Roughly 15 years after the events of the original, the world is just beginning to recover from catastrophic depression." They state. "As an elite anti-terrorist agent, you must fight numerous militant factions bent on violently reshaping the world to suit their own agendas. Using high-tech gadgetry and futuristic body modification (or biomods), you are granted near superhuman powers." You are Alex D. A clone of the original JC Denton (Male or female, your choosing.) You're pretty much trying to find the original host. (The Hero of Deus Ex.)

This time around, the game will not be nearly as linear as the original. You will be able to make more choices. There will be no scripted shootouts or cut scenes. Everything is game play, it's your choice how you play the game, and the environment will react to it.

Along with the better graphics, the physics and AI will be noticeably better. They will react to nearly everything and will be much smarter this time around. But the AI will be smarter, but to the extent of making the game fun, not smarter to make it hard and difficult, therefore taking away from the game play experience. If you were to fill a room with toxic gas, would it be more fun for an enemy to walk into it and die, or avoid it and sound an alarm because he could notice it. That is what the developers have to try and accomplish.

The game follows a combination of all 3 endings to the original Deus Ex, relying more on the "New Dark Age" but still having parts of the other endings in it. (Not that bad of a spoiler.)

And then there is of course, the compelling and dynamic storyline set in a somewhat Cyberpunk setting like the original. You will have 3 possible factions to join, (Two at the beginning and one mid way.) Each will have completely different motives and goals. There also will be the large branching conspiracy that kept you going and kept you paranoid, doubting your allies, and making you think about whom to trust.

These are just a couple tid-bits on this wonderful game. Check it out.

Left me disappointed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: April 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When you realise that a sequel to a great game is coming you cant help but feel a little excitement because you expect yet another masterpiece from the exact same developer of the orginal. Not with Deus Ex: Invisible War, the game is amazingly short and just doesn't have that magical detail from the original.

You cant help but feel robbed of a potentially great game considering that they made it primarily for the dumbass X box. I don't even know where PC Gamer got their 91% score from (but as with every review, PC Gamer only base their scores on the graphics). Don't get me wrong the game has incredible physics and a frighteningly real lighting system which for most of the time feels like the only interest throughout the game. The storyline just doesn't immerse you into the game like the original did. Also with a game this short, where is the storyline?, all i remember was a bunch of moaning people saying "Do this" and "Do that". I can't believe i'm talking about this franchise like this cause i loved the first game and know it virtually inside out cause it was so addictive.

By the looks of the game it appears the developer ION Storm had an enormous budget but it appears most of it was spent on graphics leaving the remaining 50 dollars to hire Stephen Kings cousin to write the story. I mean computer games dont have to look amazing, the whole point is that it is a game that you play and enjoy being addicted to, not something you stare at for hours and go "WOW, look at that amazing life like textured wall, wish i was there"......NAAA, not for me, bring back the virtual snooker graphics, now theres gameplay!!!!!

Another annoying aspect of this game is that it doesn't seem to understand what hardware you have, I used a 2.4Ghz P4 and one gig of ram and the game ran jerky in 800x600!!!

I hope this is only a glitch in the history of great game sequels cause it doesn't make you feel very confident about Half Life 2 and Doom 3. Lets just hope it was a screw up based on the X Box involvement and not a true attempt at making a good game cause with Deus Ex 3 in the works i fear for future of games as a whole. Why aren't we getting any more zelda's, goldeneyes or Gabriel Knight's anymore, Who cares about the week on week releases of boring PS2 games that get filtered round all formats... (...)

Disappointing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Like many of the other reviewers here, I played (and loved) the first Deus Ex. And, like so many people, I had high hopes that the sequel would continue on this legacy. Does it? Well...not really, because Deus Ex: Invisible War barely resembles the original in any form.

While DE: IW may be touted as a sequel, it really is not. This time around, the game focuses on choices--the choice to kill or save, the choice to annihilate your enemies now, rather than later. Deus Ex incorporated these elements to an extent, but DE: IW allows the player much more freedom of choice. There are still specific objectives you must complete to herd the "story" (more on that later) along, but the numerous side missions are a big plus. And, just as in the original, there is always more than one way to beat a mission. Unfortunately, this still means that one of those options is crawling through the convenient ventilation shafts that lead right into the top secret facilities. Still, the freedom to play the game as you want to play it (stealth, kill everyone, etc.) is still there.

So far so good, right? Well...all is not well in the land of DE: IW. First and foremost, what absolutely (almost) killed the game for me was the atmosphere. More precisely, the lack of atmosphere. You see, in the original DE, the game was dark, and gloomy, and you played as JC Denton, the ultimate secret agent. You were a badass. In DE: IW you play as Alex, an apparent boy-band reject and all around pansy. The game's objects are out of scale (the "remake" of the UNATCO building from DE is a prime example), and everything just looks too light and just doesn't have the grungy, devoid of hope feel of the original.

To make matters worse, the much hyped physics system is a sham. If you bump into a bench, it moves about 3 or 4 feet, and bounces around as if it was hit by a truck. Everything in the game world is apparently "mass-less," as you can throw a body a good 15 feet. (By the way the "rag-doll physics" are quite poor; the death animations and subsequent way the bodies lay on the ground is quite hilarious). There are few cool moments in that the physics engine provides, but overall, the physics in DE were more realistic.

Another highly hyped part of DE: IW is the graphics engine. The game looks pretty good, and the lighting looks nice, albeit fake (and is the cause of the aforementioned atmosphere problem, so I can't really complain. The game runs fine on my machine, with all the specs cranked down. For the record, I have a Dell 4600 PC, w/ a 2.4 GHZ P4, NVIDIA Ti4600 Graphics card, and 512 MB ram. I also ran the game (played 3/4 of the way through) on a laptop, w/ a Pentium M processor (the game requires a P4) (1.3 GHZ I think), ATI Radeon Mobile 9000, and 256 MB Ram. For my PC, I had to download the latest graphics driver before the game would work, which is understandable. I also snagged the patch, which solves most of the compatibility issues. Without the patch, the game crashes much more frequently, and you can't quick save. I had the game crash about 3-4 times, but nothing too major. On the laptop, however, I was surprised that the game actually ran, as it did not meet specs. I didn't have the latest graphics card driver, or the patch. I had a few graphics problems, but the game ran well enough for me to play it. So to everyone who says the game lags like hell on their 3.4 GHZ P4, w/ 1024 MB ram and a Geforce 5950: stop lying. The game runs plenty fine, even on a PC THAT DOESNT'T MEET REQUIREMENTS and looks nice enough; however, I can't help but wonder that the time (and money) they spent on the graphics and physics could've been spent better elsewhere.

Graphics/physics questions aside, the biggest problem with the game is by far the story. Remember the ultra-cool conspiracy laden plot of Deus Ex, with all of its twists and turns? Sorry, none of that stuff here. Oh sure, the Illuminati make an appearance in DE: IW, but there is no conspiracy this time around. There is no huge plot to rule the world, no thread of believability. The story in DE: IW is pure sci-fi trash. Sure, to the regular FPS gamer, who plays UT2004 (a good game in it's own right), DE: IW's story most likely will be amazing. To fans of DE (most of which have probably already played DE: IW), the story just doesn't satisfy. I could stomach all of the other problems in the game, if the story came through. But it doesn't, and that is the most disappointing aspect of DE: IW. The original was all about story--not RPG elements, not customization, not choices--it was about the conspiracy and realizing the world (and you) had been messed with. Sadly, in DE: IW, the closest thing there ever is to a conspiracy (warning: "spoiler" ahead) is the fact that the WTO and Order (two warring factions) are both branches of the Illuminati. Further compounding this problem is the fact that the Datacubes you find scattered about are decidedly "lighter." They simply feel out of place, and the messages are neither as philosophically deep as some in DE, or as well written and engaging.

As for the rest of the game's problems, the Universal Ammo is the biggest culprit. Who the f*** thought it was a good idea to have one ammo type. Maybe they thought gamers were too dumb to keep track of all the different ammo? Gee, this separate ammo thing is really taxing the brains of players; so let's just make one ammo! That both your stun prod and your rocket launcher uses! And we'll justify it by saying it's some sort of nano-tech stuff! Ugh. The UA causes many problems in terms of gameplay, as you're only allowed to carry 9 clips of it (wtf?!), and you can't tell how much of it is truly left (just a health bar type thing on the side of the screen that goes down every time you fire a shot). This, in turn, can screw you, if you run out. Well, since I ran out of ammo with my pistol, I'll switch over to my "Bolt-caster" (read: Tranquillizer Bow). What...they use the same kind of ammo? What the !$@!$? Now I can't get that sweet item over there, since all of the melee weapons in the game suck!

The new inventory system is also a huge problem. The original DE had a Diablo style inventory system, where a rocket launcher took up 8 squares, an assault rifle took up 4 squares, a medkit took up 1 square, etc. In DE: IW, you have 12 (upgradeable to 14) slots where you can put anything. This is a big problem--12 rocket launchers take up the same space as 12 pistols do. But, since there is no real need to carry 12 rocket launchers, you're left with a serious space problem. My inventory (up until about the game's end) consisted of: a pistol, a sniper rifle, an SMG, various grenades, medkits, food, bio-cells and multitools. This took up my entire inventory. In the first DE, save for the SMG (called the assault rifle then) and sniper rifle, all those items took up one slot. It is perplexing to me why Ion Storm did this, as it makes little sense (gameplay and justification wise).

Another aspect of DE: IW that has seen a serious downgrade from DE is the music. The music in DE was seriously awesome--it felt like a conspiracy was going on. It's hard to explain, but it fit the game perfectly, really getting the player into the game. It leads to some tense moments, and was quite amazing. Now, on to the music in DE: IW. Was there any music, 'cause I can't remember it. Very forgettable--and a downright shame compared to the awesome tunes in DE1. One highlight in DE: IW is the club songs, which are awesome--but, the rest of the music just can't hold a candle to DE.

And now, I come to the upgrading your character critique. In the first game, you had skills, which you upgraded with skill points, RPG style. You also had augmentations (9 slots), which gave you powers such as Regeneration, etc. In DE: IW, they have decided to murder the skills system, while giving you only 6 Bio-Mod slots (augmentations) which give you powers such as Regeneration, etc. However, this time around, you don't really choose--only certain ones are useful, and all the others are useless. Also, the fact that skills system was killed leads to the fact that you have to take up a bio-mod slot just to hack computers (which was a skill in DE). It's inexplicable why they would do this, but since they pretty much dumbed down the entire game, I guess it's only fair that they dumb down this too. The weapons mod system this time 'round also sucks, given that the "mods" you can use are useless and hardly do anything at all.

Judging from my review, it appears that I would think DE: IW is the worst game I've ever come across. Hardly--the game certainly has many highlights. The story, while a mere shadow of DE's, is certainly decent, and the game is engaging The gun-play this time around is pretty fun too, and some of the bio-moods are insanely cool (bot domination in particular). By far the coolest part of the game is the numerous side-quests you can partake in. For instance, while in Seattle, I was sent to kill a lawyer who was "harassing" one of Club Vox's customers. So, I went to his apartment, and told his guard (through the intercom) that I was the arms dealer coming to deliver a shipment. I then strolled into his house, and talked to him, choosing the option (when he saw that I wasn't the arms dealer) that the old arms dealer was dead, and that I was a dealer for the new one. I then chose the option, after some more talking, that the new (fabricated) dealer required a good will payment of 200 credits (the game's currency). The lawyer grudgingly obliged, and so our conversation ended. I then shot him and his guard, and went back to Club Vox to gather my reward. That was one of the only times I've said (out loud) "That's so cool!" when playing a game.

Overall, if you have not played the original Deus Ex, you're in for a real treat, as you have not been spoiled by the first game's brilliance. Ion Storm had a damn near impossible job in crafting a sequel to the masterpiece that is Deus Ex, and they did a decent job. In no way is Deus Ex: Invisible War a terrible game; it just has little to do with its amazing prequel. Ion Storm has taken the series into a completely different direction, one which most fans did not agree with, including me. I loved Deus Ex for the story; DE: IW simply does not have that same allure, the same captivating nature. Although I came away from Invisible War with mixed feelings, I did enjoy myself. I can only hope that Ion Storm will listen to their fans and bring back what made Deus Ex so damn special: the incredible story.

Pale Imitaion

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 22 / 37
Date: November 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game was made for the console only, all the great things about the first one have been taken out, from the skill sets, ammo, reloading, the inventory. Everything has been super simplified so now its a FPS not an action rpg. ALso your looking about around 15 hours of gameplay. The most revolutionary thing they did in this game was put in the console market nowing it it is going to sell well becuase it has a great name. FOrgot to mention a very weak AI and no head shots or body specific damage like the first one. They should of named it DIET Deus Ex

It's good, but not as good as the first

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Here's the deal. The story is excellent, the amount of choices they give you are excellent, and I like that you can kind of play it your own way.

However, if you're a fan of the first game, this one is ultimately a little disappointing. The amount of customization you can do is gone. There are fewer biomods, the skill set is gone, all weapons use one type of ammo(?!?!?!?), there are no more lockpicks, there's VERY little space to carry weapons and equipment, you can't lean around corners anymore, and localized damage on Alex Denton is now gone. What gives? One thing Eidos really wanted to do with this game was to make it possible to never have to draw a weapon, but it ends up an impossible feat if you want to save lives and accomplish specific objectives. To me, that's not a big complaint, because I always prefer combining stealth with death. I'm just not happy that so many of the RPG elements in the first one were removed from this game.

By the way, I have the graphics turned up, and the game runs well on my system, a system that mostly meets, rarely exceeds, the recommended requirements. I rarely crash, and the graphics and physics are really sweet on my system. Ultimately, depending on your system, you'll probably have varying degrees of success with this game. But it's still pretty cool. Four stars is reasonable.

Like the first one, this game is ahead of its time.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Seriously, You should wait for some of next years hardware to play this on. I was on a 2.4 Ghz machine with 1 GB of RAM and a Nvidia 5600 with 256 MB of Video RAM and could not get a resolution above 800x600 without it getting choppy.

The gameplay itself was great. The game had all the intrige of the first one. It has a great story and the changes to the biomod system where easy to get used to.

But the big black mark against it, is that it requires heavy hardware before it looks as good as it should. The 1.1 patch helped a lot with the game play aspects that where console oreintated, but didn't help much with the engine. I should note, that there are tools to help with the technical shortcomings of the game, but one should not have to do this to play a game that is well above the minimal specs on a game.

Dissappointing Sequel

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The only thing that DX:IW impoves its predecessor on is the graphics. The gameplay and story are both vastly inferior to the original Deus Ex.

Story - Probably the best thing about the original, Invisible War's story is by contrast extremely weak. The way the story transitioned from the original is probably the most suspect link in the story. The ending of the original gave the player three distinct choices to make, and as you go through the story in Invisible War, it seems like Eidos tried to meld all three options together (otherwise there would be no story I suppose). The story also throws in some very out of place references to various modern day conspiracy theories just to make the story "cool". Perhaps Dan Brown wrote the story for Invisible War.

Gameplay - The most bizarre part of the game is how Eidos decided to "dumb down" the gameplay from its predecessor. Instead of a system of experience points in tandem with biomods, the only character development system in the game is the biomod system, which is very similar to the biomod system of the previous game. Also strange is the "universal ammo clip" system. Apparently, in the future, stun prods use the same ammo as rocket launchers and flame throwers. They even dumbed down the lockpick/multitools system. Now there's only multitools, which gained the ability to pick the locks on doors.

Despite its inferiority to the original, Invisible War is still a somewhat enjoyable game. It's just a bit dissappointing because the original was *that* good.

A great PC game dumbed-down for X Box?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: January 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

That's my impression. As other reviewers have stated, some of the greatest things about the original DX are missing from this game. No more improving skills. No more choosing your skill specialty. You character never grows, never evolves. Just adds biomods and beefs those up a level or two. Gone are the open vistas that made some levels of DX so cool. You can gaze out the windows of the Arcology pyramid on future Cairo, but can you go outside? No! What a bummer. I could be wrong, but I can't help but feel the sequel to my beloved game was hobbled to make it console friendly. Or to make it more appealing to the Casual Gamer. The original DX was one of the top PC games of all time, but it didn't sell buttloads of copies. I guess we diehard DXers should've seen the writing on the wall.

The only technical problems I've had are a few crashes to desktop. But I'm playing on a P4 2.8 9800 Pro with a gig of memory.

The game does have atmosphere and does evoke the feeling of being in a Deux Ex sequel. It's nice being able to play as a female character for a change (you have a choice of male or female). I still like this game. Quite a bit. But I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

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